Button.



C. S. WINN.

BUTTON. APPLICATION FILED NOV. 16, 19] 4.

Patented May 25, 1915 {WI/222635.391 I CHARLES S. WINN, OF ROCKFORD, ILLINOIS.

BUTTON.

1, 14.1,oao.

Specification of Letters Patent. Patented :May 25, 1915.

Application filed November is, 914. Serial No. 372,415.

To all whom it mayconcern Be it known that 1, CHARLES S. WVINN, a citizen of the United States, residing at Rookford,in the county of \Vinnebago and v State of Illinois, have invented certain new and V useful Improvements in Buttons, of

which the following is a specification.

'. This invention relates to fabric-covered buttons suchas are used on garments for the purposes of ornamentation or as fastening means'or both.

f One of the primary objects of my invention is to provide a button of novel construction to which a fabric-covering may be ap- 5 plied by any unskilled person without .the

' use of a machine or any specially constructed tools or appliances for the purpose, andv which shall clamp and hold the applied fabric tightly and smoothly over the button 320 form so that the fabric" will not become wrin- 'kled or detached. v

' Another objectis to so construct a button that the 'fabric-covering may be readily and easily removed and replaced by another covering whenever desirable.

Fabric-covered buttonsare used very eX-' tensively on garments merely for ornamental purposes; and' when the garments are cleaned it is necessary to remove the 3o buttons therefrom to prevent both the buttons and the garment from being damaged.

Usually the buttons are sewed to the gar- "merit, and the task of removing and replacingthe buttons so attached is tedious and 85 very unsatisfactory. In this inventionI aim to provide a. fabric-covered button which may be detachably connected to a garment so i that the operation of resewing thebutton to the garment when the button is reattached qoris eliminated. I also aim to provide a detachable button of the above character l-which shall be so. constructed that the act of removing the button from a garment partially disassembles the button 1tself, and in which the operation'of attaching the'button draws the fabriccovering tightly over the button form and holds 1t securely in position thereon. Thus the button may be quickly detached either for the purpose of removing it from the garment when the same is being cleaned or for'changing the fabric covering of the'button.

Another object of my invention is to provlde a fabric-covered button of the. HEBREW-'- able fabric type which, while Iitm$liil dc tacheble from. the garment, is securely at v the parts in operative position.

tached to the garment sons to be capable of use as attaching means as well as being ornamental,

A further purpose of my invention is to provlde novel means for detachably conncctiug a fabric-covering to a button body so thatcoverings of various materials having varying thicknesses may be applied and Y drawn over the form of the button and secured thereto with equal facility, and which side of the dautton or by the use of unduly thick material.

prevents improper fastening of the fabric Another object is to provide a fabric-cowered button having a detachable screw-mem ber provided with an eye adapted to be sewed to the garment, and to provide means for preventing the button from turning relatively to the screw during use, thereby insuring that the button will ,not become loosened from its fastening means,

Other obyects of my invention will be'apparent as the same becomes better understood by reference to the following description when considered in view of the' accompanying drawings, wherein:

Figure 1 Isa face new of a button-embodying my improvements; Fig. 2 is a back View of the button showing a portion of the "removable back-member broken away; Fig.

3 is a view of the back-member removed from the button; Fig. 4 1s a sectional v ew as taken on., the line (S 6 of Fig. 1, but.

' showing several parts of the button disas- 1 sembled and illustrating the fabric as it is first applied to the button body; Fig. 5 is a similar sectional view, but with the parts as-.

sembled althoughnot in"finalioperative position', and Fig; 6 is a sectional view showing Referring more particularly to the sectional views of the drawing itfwill be .ob-

served that the body orform of the button the concave side 9 forms the back and is provided with a raised center portion or .boss 11 in which is formed a threaded socket sectionally asis indicated at 13 whereby the front and back surfaces of the button are joined without any abrupt angles or edges.

The fabric-covering designated by the reference character 14:, with which it is'desired to cover the face of the button, may be of any suitable material. \Vhen a piece has been selected it is cut circular in form with a diameter greater than that of the button body sg t hat when arranged on the body to cover the face 8 thereof the edge portion of the'fabric-covering will be folded over the rim of the button to extend within the rim at',the back of the button but with the edges of the fabric terminating short of the central boss.- The edge portion of the fabric is then gathered by a shirr or draw string 15 and drawn together, the ends of the string being then tied or fastened to the fabric to prevent withdrawal of the string. The fabric-covering as thus applied is shown in Fig. 4, and it will be apparent that with this construction, although the fabric is held on the button body by the shirr string drawing the edge portion of the fabric together, the

ter than the body 7 so that it may be inserted within the peripheral edge 13 of the body as shown in Fig. 4. The disk backmember is provided at its center with an aperture 17 through which a'screw 18 is adapts ed to be inserted and to be screwed into the threaded socket 12 for the purpose of drawing said back-member into operative position. The screw is provided with a head 19 in the -shape ofan eye, the head being adapted to abut against the outer side of the disk member 16 to effect the drawing up of said disk. When the screw is threaded into the socket 12 the edges of the disk will be drawn inwardly along the inclined rear faces of the body thereby 'drawing the fabric tightly over the front face and edges of the body. The shirr" string which holds the-edges of thefabric from separation under. tension and prevents slippageof the fabric away from the body back, insures. that the fabric will be drawn taut over the body by the clamping'action .of thedisk and precludes,

any liability of the fabric becoming bunched or wrinkled overthe edges of the body. It

will be seen from Figs. 4 and 5 that the disk back-member is dished. The button gis as sembled with the'convexface ofv the; disk to positively clamp the fabric to the button body. In fact, the fabric will be slightly impressed into the said body thereby insuring against its being released.

The button constructed and assembled as above described is now ready to be attached to a garment, and by the provision of the screw with an eye the button may be either sewed to the garment or attached by means of a spring clip. The more ordinary method of attaching is by sewing theeye to the garment, thus permanently attaching the eye,

- but by a detachable spring clip the eye may be detached at any time together with the Upon further button. In order to prevent the body from becoming loosened from the screw-member 18 by turning upon the screw when in operative position I have provided a plurality of recesses 21 in the outer side of the disk backrecesses being adapted to receive the inner end of the screw-head 19. This construction affords a yielding lock which requires, before the button can be removed, sufiicient twisting pressure to spring the disk back from connectionwith the head of the screw. Although I have shown the recesses arranged quartering, it is obvious that but a single pair of diametrically oppositely disposed recesses might-be employed.

From an inspection of Fig. 6, it will be noted that when the disk member is moved to its operative position a space designated. by the reference character 22 is left between the disk member and the boss 11 of the button body, and that only the rim of the disk back-member is drawn into engagement with the buttom body as described above. This provision in he construction has been made so that fabrics of various thicknesses-may be member extending from the aperture 17, the p used without requiring disk back-members of varioussized diameters, and for the pur-' pose of insuring that the disk member will always draw thev fabric taut and lock the fabric securely to the button body regardless of the thickness of the fabric. A further purpose of this construction is to insure that the disk back-member be drawn properly to operative position, and may not, by chance,- be-prevented by an edge portion ofthe fabric becoming interposed between the boss 11 and the disk back-member.

lVhen it is desired-to temporarily remove; the button from the garment the button would beunscrewed frvm the screw-member 18 thereby partially disassomhlingthe buttolrsinco the disk back-member 1G is disconnected from the button body. The button that when the button is removed either for the'purpose Qfchanging the fabric or for detaching the button when the garment is being cleaned, the screw-eye member remains permanently attached to the garment and to' remove the button it is only necessary to thread the body on to the screw-member.

From the foregoing it will be apparent that I have provided a fabric-covered button of such construction that the fabriccovering may be readily and easily applied to and detached from the button body; and that these operations necessitate no skilled labor or endeavor, but may be performed by any ordinary person. It will also be seen that when the fabric is attached to the button body it is held very firmly in connection therewith, drawn taut over the face of the body, and that there is very little, if any, possibility of the portion of the fabric at the rim of thebutton becomingloosened and wrinkled.

- I claim:

A button comprising a circular body membe'r shaped to provide a convex front face and a concave rear facehaving a centrally the free edges in position so as to maintain.

the covering drawn smoothly and, tightly over said convex face, a back member comprising a disk of resilient material shaped to fit within the concave rear face of the body member and provided with a centrally disposed aperture, and means passed through said aperture and threaded into 'jsaidsocket for drawing said disk inwardly toward said boss to firmly clamp thefabric between the perimeter of the disk and the surrounding concave wall of the body member and positioning the disk entirely within the body member so that the covered edges of the body member project rearwardl'y beyond the disk to protect a garment from contact with the disk, said means being proviiled rearwardly of the disk with an eye whe eby the button may be attached to such garment.

. CHARLES s. WINN.

Witnesses i JOHN F. MCCANNA, DELLA ATKINSON. 

